IT'S the Novel news.
With May rolling around, the Texas heat is picking back up.
We've taken various measures to stop anything like last year from occurring again and we also really wanted to have everything down and out before it got hot again, but here we are!
Luckily, since we are preparing for worst heat cases, we don't expect any delays to take place due to the weather. It will just be very uncomfortable work within the warehouse for the next few months.
We WILL NOT have a repeat of the great melt-ening of 2023.
International Shipping
The issue of international shipping has plagued like...well...the plague.
In the past, we've had to increase international shipping costs due to the expense and currently, we are paying roughly the same out of pocket as the customer does to get their international packages. (Eg if we charge 55USD, the real cost is 110USD)
This is unfortunately unsustainable so the internal team has been working hard to negotiate with various 3rd party companies to little success.
This month, we are hoping that we've found a decent enough solution, but it adds several additional steps to our international shipping process. Where-as for domestic, we simply print a label and call the local USPS to pick-up the packages from the warehouse.
Because of this, there is a heavy consideration toward closing down international shipping options if we can't find a working solution. This would NOT effect customers located on the continent America such as Canada or Mexico.
It is a unfortunate development, but after over a year of trying to finding an answer, we are now running out of alternatives/options that doesn't involve us taking a massive loss per package. Which don't include just charging face-value of 100+ USD per Figure item. (Which we feel is a ridiculous cost, but it is something we can't control)
We know we have alot of overseas fans and supports, so we do not want to close the option unless we absolutely have to.
Fraud
Novel Horizons in Mid-April was hit by a massive fraud attack related to impersonation with lost funds reaching over 300,000USD. Currently, the FBI and our bank are working hard to reclaim the lost money, but their current predictions are looking grim on recovering the lost money.
To compensate for this, Executive level staff will be taking partial or total pay cuts until we can ensure that all projects will be successfully completed.
As far as we can currently tell, there shouldn't be any problems with projects with or without this measure. Although it does offer extra motivation to make our next releases are absolute bangers! It also never hurts to be careful in situations like this.
New Product Lines
The sudden surprise loss of funds has pushed us to accelerate our release of our small merchandises line to lessen the blow we took.
Some customers may be familiar with a few of these new items which include posters and keychains! Although, we are going even FURTHER with our product lines to include several items such as Plushies, Acrylic items, Stickers, Deskmats, mousepads (;D) and many other legacy items that we once produced normally but put aside when we shifted focus to Scale Figures.
This also includes some unique, low-cost (relative to figures) items that have never been seen before! (Probably :3)
Adjusted Timelines
We will be adjusting our pre-order timeframes to 1 year instead of our original 3 months for Figure Pre-orders.
After seeing the number of orders and the sheer love people had toward their favorite V-tubers, we realized that we were being too ambitious and let our Hubris get the better of us.
So we are adjusting our figure timeline accordingly.
Obviously, this time will be flexible and if a project is completed early, then we will ship it out earlier. But, as our team currently is, that is the timeframe we expect for projects that will comfortably account for surprise delays and troubles.
For our smaller merch items, since we have previous experience in high volumes for these, IF we need to do Pre-orders, we expect them to take a maximum of 2-3 months to complete. Although, our current plan of attack for these is to have them on hand before selling.
This makes these items HIGHLY likely to sell out as there won't be an infinite supply like our figures, where we make units equal to number ordered plus percent extra to account for breaking or defects.
Project SARUEI:
Negotiations with a 3rd party shipping company to get better international rates took much longer then expected and even then, it has become a fairly tedious process to get these sent out. But they should all be gone by the end of this first week of May.
Once again, we apologize for the delays to our international customers.
Project NANOLESS:
Nano is on the floor and roaring to get into your hands! Expect your Nano Scale Figure THIS MAY!! (or first week of June at the latest)
We hope everyone enjoys their cute pencil/stylus holders and we thank everyone for their patience!
Project Zentreya
Project Zentreya is ready to get into your hands BUT, we are currently waiting to finish the 3rd head.
With this additional head, we decided to make some additional changes and improvements compared to the old one. Which in this case includes giving Zentreya more of her signature "Smoldering intensity"!
Your third Zen-head will be inside this little Zen-box! Which will be included with every Zentreya Scale Figure package!
Currently,
Our timeline shows Zen will begin shipping out in about 1 month!
Projekt Melody:
No new updates here, BUT we have sent a singular unit for unboxing to a certain creator, who had various fun reactions when they discovered all the fun features on their livestream!
For those who don't remember what this figure includes:
-Removable bra belt
-Removable Jacket
-BLUEBERRY SCENTED
-Squishiness
-Diorama
-Various accessories related to Projeky Melody
-And probably a few more I've forgotten myself. (tee-hee)
Project Numi
We have a confirmed ship start for May for Numi! The wait has been long and we hope you all feel it was worth it once she arrives!
As mentioned previously, several Noomba's picked up their units at Weebcon and now that we finally have space opening up we can get to getting these sent out to everyone else!
Other then that though, we have no new updates!
We will reshare the pictures from last time though for anyone who missed them!
Project Silvervale:
We have ALOT of Silvervale.
She will be going in after Melody and Zentreya who are also MASSIVE projects.
We will be working as fast as we can to get to her, but it will be a battle of attrition against the rising Texas summer heat.
But we will persevere!
Project Sinder
It's the summer sinder box! She will be of similar style/structure as the Numi box (Both based on the Sauna Buffpup box design)
with a backdrop and clear sides after the first inch up the box!
This time, the theme is a beach!
Project Lucia
Not much happening here. No rocks or trip-ups! We expect her to send out as soon as we have some space.
There is a chance we might be able to squeeze her into the warehouse sometime during Silvervales or Projekt Melodies fulfillment!
Project Fefe is in the most uneventful stage of her production. Production stage.
Currently molds are being made and parts are being prepared for assembly!
Other then that though, things are progress smoothly.
Similar to Project Fefe, Captain Hannah has entered her production stage!
Project Camimi!
We are still working on some color finalizations for this project! So she isn't quite at production yet, but is close!
Project Demondice Deemo is the focus for a new experimental advanced method of painting that we are working hard to develop to compete with other manufacturers such as "ALTER". Because of this, her color stage is taking significantly longer but we are hoping she comes out to be our highest-end completed piece after the paint has dried!
Although, we have already begun making the molds since making the pieces isn't reliant on what their colors will ultimately be.
